Blink Once Book Summary and Study Guide

Olivia pops in and out of West's room, always leaving just in time for the nurses to do their checks. She is the only person West is able to communicate with. The first time West meets Olivia, she tells him that he can't talk because he has a respirator tube in and is paralyzed.   Olivia teaches him to answer her questions by blinking once for yes and twice for no.

West is unclear as to what happened to him and is not sure why he can't feel or move his legs, but then he realizes he is strapped down to the bed. He tells himself he's not paralyzed but strapped down. His bed is rotated every few hours so he lies in different positions.

Olivia tells West about the guy who was in his room prior to him. He was a burn victim with his face and nose destroyed. She also reads to him the Harry Potter book that his mother brought in to also read to him. One night Olivia brings in a white erase board with a marker and has him try to write. At first it was difficult and could only draw an H, but soon he was able to write more words.

Nurse Norris is the only nurse who treats West like he is able to hear and understand what is going on. As time progresses she realizes he can feel the needles that are going into his arms.

West begins having nightmares. He dreams about a little girl dripping in blood who is trying to open his bedside cabinet, he dreams of a man with burnt skin, he dreams of another man that scared him and he dreams of Olivia. Olivia tells him that she thinks his room is haunted, so she investigates at night who was in West's room before he was. West finds out there was a man who was burned and was in his room last.

Physical therapy begins for West. His therapist is a kind woman who also treats West like he can understand. She gets him to move his legs. Slowly, feelings in his limbs are coming back and with the physical therapy, he is able to sit up and be put in a wheelchair. Once he's in the wheelchair, his mother takes him for walks outside. Also, Olivia unstraps him and also puts him in the wheelchair for midnight rides. She takes West to the rec room where she shows him videos of herself dancing. Often times, Olivia becomes sad and depressed and even mad at West. She becomes extremely angry when West's parents decide to have him undergo a new procedure to fuse his spine together. It's a risky procedure and he can die, but it also can help him return to normal. West is excited but Olivia doesn't want him to leave; he was her only friend there.

The closer the surgery date comes, the closer West and Olivia become. She often cuddles in bed with him, falling asleep and waking just in time to avoid being seen by the nursing staff. One night, Olivia tells him she loves him. She said that she is so happy that she met him because she was able to fall in love. She had never been in love before. West's nightmares are increasing as well. He continually dreams of a faceless girl being beaten by the same scary man he saw in his other dreams. West is also in the dreams, but unable to help her. He feels helpless.

The day before his surgery, his parent's arrive along with his best friend Mike and his ex-girlfriend, Allie to have lunch and visit. Both Mike and Allie visited West on several occasions and on one of Allie's visits, she breaks up with him; it makes her too upset to see him this way. West was devastated.

After West's surgery, he wakes up and can move, however, he still can't talk since he has the respirator tube in. His stomach is also sore because of the feeding tube. He is reassured that he is breathing on his own but he still needs to keep the respirator and feeding tube in for another day. Using a pen and paper, he also asks to call Olivia to let her know he is okay. He promised. His mother agrees to have Mike call Olivia. Mike thinks it's a girl from their school and that is who he calls.

After the respirator tube is removed, he is able to talk. He tells his mom and Mike that he remembers some of their visits; they can't believe it. His memories are starting to come back, but not all. Mike tells him he wasn't sure why he wanted him to call Ollie, but he did.   West says, not Ollie, Olivia at the Wilson Center. He gets really agitated when his mom tells him that there is no way he could have had a friend at the Wilson Center. Seeing him so upset, she calls the Center and asks to have the nurse let Olivia know he was okay. She hangs up and tells West that Olivia is in a coma.

He is soon moved to a rehab facility where he undergoes physical therapy and sees a psychiatrist. His parents are worried about him because he can't let go of Olivia. He loved her and they couldn't understand that. The psychiatrist listens to West as he tells her everything he can remember from the Wilson Center. He speaks freely of Olivia, his feelings for her and his nightmares. He also tells her he is not looking forward to the future. The psychiatrist tells West that it is normal to feel that way and the dreams were part of him not feeling like he had any control over his own body. West stops talking about Olivia so he doesn't have to see her every day. He feels no one will understand. He felt like he was trapped and his conscious would not let him forget that Olivia begged him to come back for her after his surgery. She didn't want to be left alone there.

The day before he is released from the rehab facility, his mom arrives to take him out to lunch and over to the Wilson Center to say hello to everyone. Nurse Norris was so happy to see him and to see how well he was doing. His memories of her surprise her. While his mother is visiting with the doctor who cared for West, West asks to see his old room. They pass Olivia's room and he asks about her. Nurse Norris explains that she is in a persistent vegetative state for the past two years. West is shocked that the girl he knew didn't exist and begins to cry when he is left alone in his old room.

Finally he is released home. He begins his own research on Olivia and finds that she was assaulted by a man, Thomas Mason when she was fifteen. She was found by a bus driver, unconscious with a scarf tied around her throat. The newspaper article he read also said she was stabilized in a coma. He needed to see this man. He asks Mike to take him somewhere and he agrees even though he doesn't know where they will be going.

West arrives at the jail that Thomas Mason is in. Using a fake id, he is able to finally see the man that harmed Olivia. He is not surprised that he looks exactly like the scary man in his dreams. Not knowing what to say to Thomas, West feels awkward. Thomas demands to know what he wants and West tells him he wasn't sure other than he is a friend of Olivia's. At first he seemed callous, but then he asks how she is doing. West tells him she is still in a coma. Frustrated with West, Thomas yells at him to leave and that he is just useless. Hearing the word useless, he realizes that Thomas said that about Olivia in one of his dreams.

The next week, West arrives at the Wilson Center. Nurse Norris is surprised to see West, as is West to see her. It wasn't her shift. Nurse Norris wants to know what he's doing there because she knew it wasn't to see her. West tells her everything about his dreams and Olivia. Nurse Norris takes West to the room that holds a man named Paul. Paul is the burn victim that was in his old room prior to him. She then takes him down the hall to Katie's room – the little girl he saw in his room, rummaging through his draws, dripping in blood. She has been at the Wilson Center a year and just turned nine. West is so happy to know that Nurse Norris believes him and then she asks if he wants to see anyone else. He says, “Olivia”. Nurse Norris tells him he should just let go of this place, leave it behind him. She goes on to explain that when she first started working there, she thought she could save everyone with a little extra kindness, but she couldn't. And it's difficult to work on patients that you knew weren't going to get better.

West enters Olivia's room expecting to see his Olivia with long, dark hair, dark eyes and bright cheeks. Instead, he sees a girl with chopped short hair and a long pink scar down her face. West knows that Olivia is not who she is in the bed, that's she's really not there. He sits alongside her and tells her that he is there, that he came back for her and she wasn't alone. He wants her to blink once for yes or twice for no, so he knows what to do. There is no reaction to his questions. Should he unhook the respirator and let her die? He knows how to do it without making a sound. Olivia had shown him the first time she took him on a midnight stroll in his wheelchair. He was just about to do it when a nurse came in. With the interruption, he leaves.

That night he dreams of Olivia. While holding hands she tells him that she never had a friend to trust like him and that he had shown her what love really is. She thanks him for this and West feels relief he didn't let her down. He went back for her and everything is okay. Olivia tells West that she is tired and could he stay with her until she fell asleep? He looks at her perfectly, beautiful face and knows that she is whole again. He watches the machines next to her bed wind down until the respirator stops and he tells her he won't ever leave her.

Three days later, Nurse Norris calls West to let him know that Olivia passed away. She died the day before from heart failure. West refuses to attend her funeral.

West dreams again of Olivia. He can't see her face but he knows that it's her. They are down at the lake and he asks her who she's looking for and she answers, “You. I'm looking for you.”

West's life continues on. He is walking much better now, without the braces and walker. He will never be able to bend and touch his toes or rotate his middle, so there is a long list of things he can't do. Biking is one of them. To help fill the time he usually spent biking, he swims everyday for exercise along with the physical therapy. The schools' swim coach sees him and tells him he should go out for the swim team; and he thinks he will. He likes being under the water, in the silence. He can remember Olivia there and feel happy. He also needs to fill all the hours he used to spend biking, so he wouldn't miss it. He needs to repeat the eleventh grade and is slightly bothered that both Mike and Allie will be seniors without him.

On the way to a summer concert with Mike, Allie and Mike's girlfriend, they stop at a diner for lunch. West thinks he sees Olivia but of course, it's not her. West grows quiet and Allie notices. She asks him what's wrong and he assures her that nothing is. West thinks of the time Allie and he had gone for coffee and Allie tells him that he reminds her of the rings on a tree trunk. When the rings are dark and thick, there is plenty of nourishment but when they are light and small, there is very little nourishment. At the time, West agreed with her but now he sees himself differently. He sees himself as the dark and thick rings. This year for him he worked hard to come from a coma to walk again. He faced a long hard road and won. He acknowledges that he didn't do all of it on his own, that he had a lot of help. He was finally looking toward the future.

Best part of story, including ending: I loved this story because I liked West and loved the writing. It was so easy to see and feel yourself in the same position as West. It was very real.

Best scene in story: My favorite scene was the ending, when West finally acknowledges to himself that he is worth a lot. He had faced a horrible future after his accident, but was strong enough to overcome all of his obstacles.

Opinion about the main character: West is extremely likeable. He is down to earth, honest and kind. He also faces his fears head on and works very hard.